Little Runaway
by railise
Summary: Arthur and and Gwen find a surprise in their chambers. Post-S5, everybody-lived AU.


**Prompt:** "Gwen and Arthur runaway"  
**A/N:** For **ag_fics** Team Fic Battle.

* * *

"What are _you_ doing here?" Arthur crouched down to be on eye level with the person he had just discovered hiding behind his and Guinevere's changing screen.

Delyth gripped her favorite blanket tighter to her chest. "I'm running away," she announced, her small voice quivering with the same resolve that shone in her bright blue eyes.

Arthur's eyebrows rose. "I see. And, um, do your parents know about this?"

Her lower lip wibbled as she glanced off to the side. "No..."

He gave her a gentle smile. "Don't you think they'll be worried when they can't find you?"

"Arthur?" Gwen came into the room then, calling when she did not immediately spot him.

"Over here." He kept his voice low, not wanting to upset the child any more than she already was.

"What are you-? Oh. Hello, Delyth." Reading that the situation called for calmness, she copied Arthur's tone, even as she shot him a curious look.

"It seems we have a runaway," he explained.

"Oh, dear." Arthur rose and made room for Guinevere, who held out a hand for the little girl. "Why don't you come out here, we'll sit down, and you can tell us all about it?"

After a hesitation, Delyth took Gwen's hand, clutching her blanket as she let the queen lead her into the room. Figuring the bed for the most comforting place to go, Gwen sat on the edge, and lifted Delyth to sit with her. Arthur pulled over his favorite chair.

"So, what's going on?" Gwen asked.

Delyth drew a shaky breath. "I wanted to climb the dragon, but Papa said I had to ask Mama, and she said no, so he said no, too."

Arthur did his best to keep his voice gentle. "And, you felt the answer was to run away?" Guinevere shot him a warning look, but he truly did not follow.

With a sniffle, Delyth said, "They _never_ let me climb the dragon, even though Papa's the dragonlord."

Gwen smoothed down one of the girl's long, dark curls. "Have they ever told you why?"

At first, the six-year-old seemed to consider whether or not to answer. "Mama says I could fall and get hurt. But, they could both fix me if I did," she pouted.

Arthur and Gwen met one another's gazes. "They do not want you to get hurt in the first place," Gwen said.

"And, not everything can be fixed," Arthur added softly. Gwen gave him a wistful hint of a smile.

"Kilgharrah won't let me get hurt," Delyth argued.

"Not even dragons can keep all bad things from happening," Gwen said.

Delyth frowned as she thought that over. "I thought maybe they said, 'No,' 'cause I'm a girl, so I won't be a dragonlord."

"I'm sure that has nothing to do with it," Gwen replied soothingly.

Biting her lip, Delyth said hesitantly, "They're going to be angry at me for running away."

Arthur could not imagine Merlin being actively angry at any of his children and started to say so, but was interrupted by a rapid knock at the door.

Merlin came tearing in before anyone could respond. "Have you seen- Delyth, _there_ you are!" He had clearly been frantic in the moment before spotting her; when he did see her, he visibly relaxed, as if his whole body sighed. Walking over, he scooped his daughter up into a huge hug. "I've been looking all over for you," he murmured. To Arthur and Gwen, he asked, "What's she doing up here?"

Delyth shot them a worried look. Arthur decided not to bring up the attempt to run away at this time; if she did not mention it to her father, Arthur would talk to him about it when she was not present. "She was disappointed about not being allowed to climb on Kilgharrah."

Merlin peered at her, beginning to smile. "You wanted to see if Arthur would order me to let you, is that it?"

Her eyes widened. "He can _do_ that?"

"I could." Before Merlin could glare at him, Arthur finished, "I won't." Then, to lessen that blow, he said in an exaggerated whisper, "Maybe when you're older."

"We were simply discussing it with her," Gwen explained, having noticed Arthur's omission regarding Delyth's escape plans and going along with it.

The girl chose to be honest. "I ran away, but they found my hideout."

Merlin looked a little stricken at that, and glanced at Arthur. "Where was your hideout?"

"Over there." She pointed to the changing screen. The answer seemed to relieve Merlin a bit, though not completely.

"I'm glad they found you," he said. "We would have missed you very much."

She bit her lip again. "You're not angry?"

He shook his head. "No, but I am sad that you wanted to leave us."

"I wasn't leaving," she said. "I was running away in the castle."

That piece of child-logic bemused every adult in the room. After a beat, Merlin kissed her on the nose. "Well, please just promise me you'll never do that again."

"All right."

With a murmured, "Thank you," to his friends, Merlin turned to take his daughter back to their quarters.

As they were nearing the door, she asked, "Papa, how old do I have to be to climb the dragon?"

"Twelve."

"_Twelve?!_"

"Maybe ten. We'll see."

After they had left, Arthur said to Guinevere, "We need to figure out a way to make sure she doesn't give any of ours ideas."

They both laughed... but, they both started pondering that, too.


End file.
